Endangering Prosperity: A Global View of the American School

1. An Economic Future Imperiled

1 We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. —Barack Obama, 2011 Americans like to believe that their youth are truly exceptional . A glow of pride spreads across the land whenever young U.S. athletes win more medals than any other nation in the Olympics, as in Vancouver in the winter of 2010 and in London in the summer of 2012. It is true, as the German author of this book likes to remind his colleagues, that at least in the most recent Winter Olympics, Germany won more gold medals than the United States, but however you count these things, the United States was at or near the top of the heap. So it is not pleasant when Americans learn that their education system does not perform at the same world-class level as did those U.S. athletes in Vancouver. For example, among the twenty-five nations who won at least one medal—gold, silver, or bronze—in Vancouver Chapter One AN ECONOMIC FUTURE IMPERILED 13291-01_CH01_3rdPgs.indd 1 6/6/13 10:37 AM 2 an eCOnOmiC Future imperiled (and also participated in the PISA international student achievement test), the United States came in eighteenth in advanced math achievement, just edging out the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Latvia, Croatia, and Kazakhstan.1 It is fashionable to attribute these results to sizable numbers of minority students, or to student home environments, or to the quality of schools in urban areas, certain states, or regions. And it is true that African American and Hispanic students perform at a lower level than do white and Asian students, that student performance in urban areas is particularly discouraging, and that some states and regions of the country have students who score at higher levels . But we show in this short book that the problems in American education are not limited to gaps in performance between white and black, Asian and Hispanic, northern states and southern ones, or even between cities and suburbs. Even when we look at the best the United States has to offer, we seldom find performances that lift the United States to the top of the world, especially in mathematics. Nothing is more important for the long-run future of the United States than the knowledge and skills of the next generation . On this score, the United States is in trouble, because its future, as indicated by the math, science, and reading skill levels achieved by today’s students, looks quite depressing compared to what is possible and what has been achieved in other countries. Realizing the country’s potential is still within reach, but doing so will take more than small steps and timid actions abetted by general confusion as to whether serious policy changes are worth their political costs. Many commentators put the problem of schools in the context of generational conflict. The retirees are pitted against the children . They are portrayed as wanting nothing more than greater Social Security and Medicare payments along with lower taxes, implying that educational spending must give way to those priorities . By this argument, as the population ages, the educational needs of children will face an uphill battle for support. 13291-01_CH01_3rdPgs.indd 2 6/6/13 10:37 AM 3 an eCOnOmiC Future imperiled Our view is different. The battle is not young versus old but a conflict between the needs of school-age children and the interests of those adults who have agreed to educate them in our public schools. The school workforce—teachers, principals, superintendents , other administrators, and ancillary personnel—too often favors only those changes to the status quo that enhance their income or lighten their workload. They oppose changes in the organization and structure of the school system that would likely enhance the learning opportunities of those for whom they are educationally responsible. When that happens, the promise of our nation’s prosperity is endangered. The available evidence about the economic gains possible with improved schooling underscores the common interests of our young and our old. With higher economic growth, something we can expect with improved schools, we could solve the longrun fiscal problems that are adding to the debt load of state and federal governments while threatening the long-term stability of Social Security and Medicare. And we could lessen, if not...